A Seam Ripper Weekend

Sorry about the poor quality photos but it's been nothing but clouds in the Sunshine State for the past several days.  I spent the weekend finishing up on some block-of-the-month programs I joined this year.  This is the last block in the Sugar Block Club with Amy Gibson.  All year I've been waiting for the right block to fussy cut a flower and  December was the month.

Here are all twelve of the blocks.  I haven't decided how I'm going to set them yet, I might just make a few more blocks.  The fabric was a  line I found at Joann's in their better fabrics back in 2005 that I'd been saving for just the right project.  I love how all the blocks turned out!

I joined Block Lotto last month and made four blocks for December.

Then it was on to this block.  It's the December block for the Designer-of-the-Month on the Auribuzz site.  That red Grunge fabric is much prettier in natural light!  I used the no-waste method for the flying geese and must have done something wrong as once they were sewn together they were a good quarter of an inch too long. Ugh.  Ripped things apart, resewed, and eventually decided to just re-make the block after never getting it quite right.  I'm satisfied with it finally!

Here's all the blocks for the year.  I made all of them from my scraps which pleases me greatly!

Thanks for stopping by!

To Vladimir, With Love

Geez, I almost ditched the post today.  Yes, on day 5 of a 30 day posting commitment.  Pathetic. What to write about then?
  I know, my daughter mentioned to me that Vladimir Putin was chosen again (two years running!) as the most powerful person in the world by Forbes magazine.   Perfect.  I'll just post a pic of Vlad and call it quits.

But I'm guessing anyone coming to a quilt related blog is expecting something quilt related.  So, moving along (sorry Vladimir, congrats, BTW), I came to the decision I was fretting way too much and I just needed to start.

I bought some painter's tape after taking Jacquie's Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot class on Craftsy last month.  I just knew I wanted to put those lessons to good use.  At this point I decided (along with Jacquie's input) to start out quilting straight lines on the blocks keeping with the diagonal.  I have the blue painters' tape in addition, but neither the green nor the blue are really sticking that great.  I don't know if starch or sizing is interfering but what a pain!

About halfway through sewing the line, the second half lifts away from the fabric.

I tried doing this but that doubled the time it took.  I love the backing.  I had planned on using it for another top but I liked it with this one.  It's all personal ads written by women.  It was intended for the back of a wedding quilt I made but ended up not giving as a gift.

I wonder if Vladimir quilts?

Tossed Salad

Yikes!  Day 3 of NaBloPoMo and I almost forgot to post.  I was clueless as I can't show what I've been working on today as it's part of a Secret Santa swap that I signed up for in January.  I won't do that again!  It's been a lot of work, or I have made it a lot of work.  Plus the fact that we did not know who our partner was until most of the gifts were made/purchased.  I did not like the anonymity.

I made this block this morning.  It's from the Aurifil Designer BOM free program they offer online.  You can check it out at Auribuzz.  This one's by Scott of Blue Nickel Studios.  The block went together like a dream!

Here's the rest of the year's sewing.  I've been making them exclusively using scrap fabric.  I randomly chose 4 colors and and have been limiting myself to those.  It's been a real challenge. An interview with the designer is also included which I've really been enjoying.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Sunday Sewing

Thought I'd show a grouping of my Sugar Block Club blocks prior to making the one I made today.  To any new readers, this was another project I joined at the beginning of the year.  It's a paid subscription to a mystery Block of the Month.  Amy of Stitchery Dickory Dock also sends a recipe along with the block directions.  I haven't attempted any of those but they do sound and look enticing.

So far this is my fav block only because of the crane fabric.  I love birds and I am especially fond of cranes.  Ours are of the Sandhill variety here, but still excellent, as all cranes are!  Here's a closeup…

They seem to have done a semi-good job of co-existing with people here in Florida.  Unfortunately they like to eat by grazing long distances and will step in front of vehicles to cross the road.  But I digress.

November's block, was a paper-pieced one.  I like the precision of it and that Amy suggests precut sizes for the various fabrics, certainly makes for less fabric waste and guessing.

That's it for today, anyone else doing the SBC?  I'd love to hear about it!

Rainy Days and Sundays

What a treat this morning, slept late (7:30) and it was raining when I got up.  A guilt-free day of skipping my hour morning walk! A few days ago  finished the Sanctuary Sampler top I was working on.  I really like the way it turned out.  One less kit in the stash!

  Because I have such a small sewing room, after projects I am forced to tidy up or else nothing can be found.

That evolved to going through my fabric stash and pulling out stuff I no longer like or the quality is questionable.  I had a lot of the latter.  This being judged by the old holding-it-up-to-the-light test.  Amazing how fabric quality has improved just in the past 6 or 7 years or so. Anyone else notice that?   In my sorting and re-arranging, I ran across this online BOM I participated in last year.

I had neglected to do the last month which consisted of the trees using templates! Ugh.  All went well albeit rather slowly.  A major distraction over the past few weeks has been a pair of American Bald Eagles in our neighborhood. 

They have generated quite the stir!  I'll leave you with my Block 4 of the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along that Konda is sponsoring.

Now I'm off to pick out fabric for  the Schnibbles for the month, Tag Along.
Thanks for stopping by!

New Addition

Meet my new sewing machine! I have wanted a truly portable machine for quite awhile and finally started looking about a week before my computer was stolen. I first looked at the Baby Lock Natalie (love the name!) but thought the machine was rather cheaply made and the fact that the 1/4 inch foot was $53 was a big turnoff. Who in their right mind would pay that when the machine itself was only $199? I love what I got! It has so many features, needle up/down, alterable needle drop position, and a start/stop button so you can sew without a foot pedal! And it weighs only 12 pounds.

This is a quilt made from the Jelly Roll Quilts book. It's called Bars of Gold in the book. It looks deceptively easy, and it is except for sewing the columns of bars together. I found I had to pin at every bar after carefully matching the seams to the prior column. I resolved to make all my quilt kits in 2009 and that is where this fabric came from.

When I opened the kit, the directions were missing. Either I never received the directions (bought off eBay) or they were lost. I made mine following the photo in the book rather than the directions. The difference being the width of the sashings. The directions have the sashings cut the same width as the borders but I did not have enough solid blue for that.

And for some strange reason the strips were cut lengthwise so the directional ones run kind of funny.

Don't you just love the chicks? There were quite a number of Aunt Grace fabrics I hadn't seen before.

Lastly, my house block for the March Block-of-the-Month from Forever Green Quilts completed yesterday. Wish I'd used a different green for the door. The block directions are posted on the 15th of each month and are available for 2 months.

Completion

These are the quilt blocks I made for February from an online site that is posting free directions on the 15th of each month. I had to 'drop everything' to make them! I'm using Christmas colors and plan on giving the finished quilt to my SIL.

I finished making the quilt using my Batik leftovers from the Batik Challenge. I so wanted to buy some other Batiks but made myself work with what I had on hand.

Would you believe I still have more scraps left?

I think the quilt is done though. I just started by making some house blocks and letting things evolve from there. It finishes about 40 by 33 inches.

This is William, my daughter's budgie that I inherited when she went off to college. He's been sick for the past several months with cancer. It overtook him yesterday morning. He was a good little guy with as much personality as any dog or cat and will be missed.
Thanks for stopping by.

January House

Took a break from sewing the homespun blocks I made yesterday to make a house BOM block. It is as easy as it looks and fun to boot! I think I am going to make it with Christmas fabrics/colors all from scraps.